Folasade Yemi-Esan, the Head of Service (HoS) of the federation, has refuted allegations of extorting N23 million from 92 applicants who aspired to become permanent secretaries in various federal ministries.
Certain online news outlets had circulated reports claiming that Yemi-Esan had collected N250,000 from these applicants for their participation in a one-week training program conducted from October 23 to 28. This training program had been organized by the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN).
In response to these allegations, M. A. Ahmed, the director of communications within the HoS office, clarified that the training of civil servants was not within the service’s mandated responsibilities.
“It is imperative to state here that the course fee was not determined by the OHCSF nor is it paid into the Office‘s account,” Ahmed said.
“Training and retraining of Civil Servants is the core mandate of PSIN and the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) and as such, monies for such are paid directly into the aforementioned training institutions’ NUBAN account, linked to the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA).
“For the avoidance of doubt and the records, the process for the selection of Federal Permanent Secretaries is segmented, rigorous and transparent.”
The director said the training was optional, adding that the publishers of the reports should retract them and apologise or face defamation suits.
